Root the Xiaomi Mi 4 without loosing warranty

In the last few months Xiaomi, the OEM start-up from China has scaled new heights. they have become the 3rd largest manufacturer of mobile devices by volume in the world in the calendar year 2014. Right behind Samsung and Apple in the global scale of things, Xiaomi has been dominant in it’s home market China and even displaced the long time King, Samsung, and claimed the top spot for itself.

The reason behind Xiaomi’s meteoric rise to the top is their amazing build quality and specifications coupled with the price point that undercuts every opposition in the market.This is displayed in their Mi line of products the Mi3 and their current flagship the Mi4.

Another good thing about Xiaomi is that they love the open nature of Android and to facilitate that, they allow the tinkerers to root their phone with ease and without being afraid of loosing warranty.

Before we jump into the Rooting process let’s take a quick glance at the specs sheet for the Xiaomi Mi4. Click here to read about the latest specs, pricing and details of Xiaomi Mi5 and Mi5 Plus

Specifications

Screen

1920×1080 5.0″(441 ppi) IPS LCD

OS

Android KitKat 4.4.2 with MIUI V6

CPU

2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801

RAM

3GB

GPU

Adreno 330

STORAGE

16GB or 64GB, not expandable

NETWORKING

Dual Band 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS

NETWORK

GSM 850/900/1800/1900
HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100
LTE version TBA

PORTS

Micro USB 2.0, headphones

CAMERA

13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera,

SIZE

139.2mm x 68.5mm x 8.9mm

WEIGHT

149g

BATTERY

3080 mAh, not removable

STARTING PRICE

$320 unlocked in China, around 24,000 INR

OTHER PERKS

RBG notification LED, IrLED, NFC, removable back plate

Now with that out of the way let’s get right down to it, below are the steps that you’ll need to follow to root your Mi4

Step 1

Step 2

Rename the downloaded file to ‘update.zip’. Remember it should be update.zip any other variations even Update.zip will not work

Step 3

Open the Updater app on your Xiaomi Mi4, hit menu and then reboot to recovery mode.

Step 4

Once you’re in recovery, the touchscreen will not work. Use volume buttons for navigation, and the power button to select.

Step 5

Select your preferred language (English in our case)

Step 6

Wipe cache by going to ‘Wipe and reset’ and then select wipe cache.

Step 7

Now, install the ROM we downloaded by selecting ‘Install zip to system one’.

Step 8

Once done, reboot. Once it is booted open the securities app

Step 9

Go to permissions and turn on root permissions.

Congratulatons! You now have root access in your Xiaomi Mi4. Now you can install a custom recovery and try out different ROMs. We will be bringing out a tutorial on how to install a custom recovery on the Mi 4 shortly so stay tuned. Click here to read about the latest specs, pricing and details of Xiaomi Mi5 and Mi5 Plus

About Amartya

I'm a computer science engineer by trade but all technical jargon aside I'm a true techie at heart....
Anything that goes beep, interests me. When am not delving into new gadgets I'm either reading fantasy novels(G.R.R Martin anyone?) or listening to old school rock.